1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to peer to peer local area networks (LANs) and, more particularly to a peer to peer network wherein control data and information, especially multimedia information, is provided to stations connected to the network.
2. Background
A typical audio system has a centralized receiver that includes a tuner and program function selector (where a program source is selected) and one or more sets of speakers, e.g., a local speaker set and remote speaker sets. The centralized receiver controls the volume at all speaker sets, i.e., on both the local speaker set and on the remote speakers. The receiver selects a single program source for play at any and all of the speaker sets. Only one source is selected and available at all of the speaker sets at a time, even though the receiver may have inputs from multiple devices. Input devices may include, for example, a turntable, tape player a compact disc (CD) player, a minidisk (MD) player and other auxiliary devices, such as a digital audio tape (DAT) player, a digital versatile disc (DVD) player, a videocassette recorder (VCR) or television set.
Transferring multimedia information over a network is known. e.g., streaming multimedia data over a network such as the internet or a local area network (LAN). The multimedia data may be raw audio or video data such as a wave file, a bitmap or a movie file. However, typically, multimedia files are compressed using, for example, the motion pictures expert group (MPEG) format to reduce the data volume that must be handled. Furthermore, music or songs may be encoded as compressed audio, for example, using the MPEG layer 3 (mp3) standard. This compressed audio may also be made available as an mp3 file for compact storage, transport and handling. Depending upon the complexity of the audio data that is compressed, these audio compression techniques can reduce file size by 90% or more, without losing playback quality, i.e., with CD quality playback.
Reduced file size and CD quality sound have made compressed audio files very popular. So, mp3 file libraries are available at numerous internet sites, e.g., mp3.com. Further, various software interfaces are available for playing mp3 files, either directly, as they are downloaded to a personal computer (PC) from the internet or, from a cache of previously downloaded mp3 files, e.g., Winamp and RealPlayer. Software packages are also available to encode uncompressed audio, e.g., encoding a music cut from, for example, a CD into a mp3 file. After encoding (called “ripping”) the condensed file may be stored on a PC either for subsequent playback at the PC or, for transfer to a dedicated mp3 player, such as the Lyra from RCA or the Rio from Diamond Multi-Media.
A typical such mp3 player looks like a small (about the size of a cigarette package) personal radio with mini-earphones for private listening. Usually, the mp3 files are stored in non-volatile memory in the mp3 player, which may hold an hour or more of encoded music. These dedicated mp3 players normally serve as personal music players that provide a single individual with music and songs selected for the listener's taste.
Although the personal mp3 players may be attached to a sound system, e.g., as an auxiliary device, usually they are not. So, for example, a musical piece being played on a turntable attached to a sound system is not heard through speakers attached to a computer: and, a streaming audio or mp3 file being played on a computer is passed to a home theater system only with some difficulty. Consequently, a heavy metal music file downloaded by a teenager and being played on a PC in the teen's room may be disturbing everyone else in the house, while a sound system that is intentionally located in a remote, isolated family room may lie dormant. Light music that is being piped throughout the house from a sound system located in the family room and played at a volume that is barely loud enough to be heard in the crowded family room, may be overly loud in another, nearly empty room. By contrast, the same music set at low volume in a nearly empty family room might not be heard in other rooms where people are standing and chatting.
Thus, there is a need for a multimedia system wherein a program source may be located in one zone or room and multimedia data may be streamed to one or more other zones or rooms where it may be independently selected, controlled and played.